


Uppercut

by StarsGarters



Series: Body Blows: Wardlow [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crack, Digital Art, F/M, Hospitalization, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-26 05:22:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1676279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsGarters/pseuds/StarsGarters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Former SHIELD Agent Grant Ward meets a familiar face while he recovers from the beating he took from Melinda May.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uppercut

 

"He's having trouble speaking. I think I fractured his larynx." The bitch gloated. Even if Melinda May hadn't crushed his voicebox, Ward wouldn't have said anything. Some of his teeth were loose, blood slowly filled his mouth. He saved it, just in case he needed to spit it in someone's eye.

Threats were made, tortures were promised, Ward didn't care. Skye wouldn't look at him. She was disgusted by him. His failure disgusted him too.

She called him weak, but his weakness was for Skye. That weakness has been ruthlessly exploited, just like he would have done. His pride at being Skye's mentor was tempered by bitterness. Skye wasn't even human, not all the way, so why did she have the right to judge him? HYDRA would have taken care of her, made her one of the righteous, the future rulers of the world. She could have been his and his alone, but everything had fallen apart and burnt into ashes.

That was the trouble with deep cover, you started believing your own lies. He'd pretended to be one of them and he never had been. He couldn't be. Ward's life had been a lie, a fabrication built on a cracked foundation, but it had been his choice.

Garrett was gone. Ward's heart ached, his adrenaline was lessening and his body screamed from that angry shrew's punishing blows. Maybe he shouldn't have slept with her, but it had been the easiest way to gain her trust. Even the indomitable Agent May was prone to thinking about time and how it would ravage her. Ward was eager to exploit those nagging doubts, those niggling fears. She hadn't been bad in bed either, tireless, but not as rough as he would have liked.

They loaded him up on a transport, shackled and bound. SHIELD was gone, but there were still other places that enemy combatants could be kept. Ward let a little bloody saliva spill down his chin, but his captors paid him no mind. He'd have to fake a serious injury to get transferred to an infirmary facility rather than a military prison hole. He coughed and nearly blacked out from the pain. Well, now, he wasn't going to have to _act_ injured after all.

That was the first thing that had gone right for him all damn day. Gasping for breath as his trachea constricted from swelling and bruising, Ward clawed at his neck. He collapsed, his shackled arms bearing his weight as he slumped in his seat.

"Prisoner down! Request med-evac!" Ward would have smiled at those words, if he hadn't been suffocating to death. Darkness swum up and immersed him. His last thoughts were of Garrett, offering him a new life. A blank slate. He'd fucked up Garrett's gift. I'm so sorry, he thought as they wrestled him onto a gurney. I'll _avenge_ you. I swear it.

_"Put him in the room with the other HYDRA scum."_

_"Jesus, he's messed up. Did you see the scans? Lacerated spleen, internal bleeding, compound fractured larynx... dude's lucky to be breathing. Probably won't be able to talk for a long time though. Blunt trauma like that, he's going to need plates and fixation. I'd guess maybe a 40 percent chance of getting his voice back. That's going to make testifying at his own trial a real bitch."_

_"Well, the nice thing about terrorists is that we don't have to put them on trial. He can stay in here until he's old enough for dentures. Just like his roommate over there."_

_"You mean the one the Triskelion fell on? Did you hear that Captain America himself came to visit that guy?"_

_"Did he say anything?"_

_"Nah, he just looked sad and disappointed. Like my dad did when I told him I'd crashed the car drinking on prom night."_

_"These HYDRA bastards, I'll give it to them, they're tough motherfuckers."_

Ward listened to the orderly and the doctor talk in the hall and did a self assessment. Splinted, shackled, intubated and cut open like a fish. He wondered if they'd taken out his spleen or sewn it up. Even his perfectly formed and well-trained body was a disappointment. He tried to swallow and regretted it.

The beeps and chimes of various monitors would be his lullaby for days, weeks and even months. Eventually, after the multiple surgeries Ward pondered if this was the torture that Coulson had promised him. Endless pain in the guise of mercy and rehabilitation. They should have just let him die. And they called themselves the _good_ guys.

His roommate was silent, just like he was. From the chatter of the attendants, Ward learned that the man's mandible had been shattered and they were slowly stitching him back together, to let him heal. Poor bastard, Ward thought with pity more than empathy. Seemed to be healing faster than Ward was though...

He was a model patient, kind to the attendants and eventually people became comfortable enough with him to let him go to the common area with the rest of the killers, crack pots and enemies of the state. Ward hardly looked like himself, no one recognized him and why would they? He had been deep cover black ops for years.

Until the day they wheeled in his roommate.

The two men locked eyes. Ward still bore Brock Rumlow's mark under his arm, crossbones-shaped scars that Ward hadn't had removed even though he could have. They were a memento, a warning. Rumlow was wearing a black brace on his lower face, protecting his reconstructive work. His eyes were bright and clear, the corners crinkled with amusement. He _winked_.

Ward was glad to see him too. An ally that claimed to care intimately for you was priceless. He didn't care for Rumlow in the same way at all. He didn't really love anyone except for Skye and that love was more of a desire to possess her. She was an exceptional creature and he was going to miss all the potential that she had. 

Ward smiled back at Rumlow, tapped his throat and shook his head. Rumlow nodded understanding and with his finger mounted oximetry monitor, tapped slowly and deliberately on the metal of his wheelchair. All the while staring hungrily at Ward, devouring him with his dark-eyed gaze.

HYDRA code. Tap, tap, pause, tap... _Hello Pretty Boy_. Rumlow waggled his eyebrows and awaited Ward's response. Ward rolled his eyes.

Rumlow shrugged. _So who nailed you?_

 _The Cavalry. I fucked her over and she wasn't happy about it._  That was an understatement.   


_Ouch. Cap dropped a building on me._

_You do have a flair for the dramatic._ They paused as a guard walked between them, old habits coming back to them as they interacted. 

Rumlow inclined his head and tapped back, _I fucking hate this liquid diet. At least I have someone to talk to now. Was getting ready to punch my way out of this hell hole. _Fuckers, t_ hey should have let me die. _

_No shit. But Coulson promised me torture. So I guess I have to get healthy for that._

_Coulson's alive? Huh. Cap would be so happy to know that. Maybe I can tell him that I killed his favorite SHIELD agent for a second time. I have a list._

_Coulson's mine._

_Oh come now. You can share._ Ward could hear Rumlow's voice in his head as decrypting the code became easier, faster and more fluent.

Ward snorted a huff of breath through his nose in denial.

When they were back in their room, curtains pulled and shackles applied, they resumed their conversation.

 _I told Pierce that we should have killed Cap first. He was too dangerous. Hell, I followed Cap without question until the orders came._ Rumlow bragged,  _Did you know he had a crush on me? Big man actually flirted with me._

 _Thought you didn't like senior citizens._ Ward was so starved for conversation, for a connection that he didn't care that Rumlow was bragging about conquests. Tap, tap, tap.

_Ever hear of the Winter Soldier?_

_No._ That was a lie. Garrett was close enough to Pierce to know about HYDRA's pet assassin and Ward was Garrett's sounding board. He'd never seen the Winter Soldier in action and was grateful not to have had the pleasure.

 _Pretty boy, just like you. Dark hair, sad eyes. Broken like a ragdoll in the brain. Followed orders like a champ._ Rumlow left no doubts as to what orders he'd given the assassin, Ward knew his proclivities too well.

 _Brainwashed sex puppet? I thought you liked a little fight._ Ward snorted. 

There was a long pause, then Rumlow resumed, _Does it make it better that I thought about you when I was fucking him?_

Ward stopped tapping and went back to flexing his muscles to retard atrophy. He was going to get out of here, he was going to be free. He wasn't going to think about that confession and how it made him hard. It had just been a long time, that's all. He didn't need to be wanted, he didn't need someone to follow. Grant Ward was his own man now and didn't need guidance, a mentor... a _master_. 

Rumlow broke the finger monitor whacking it against the bed railing. _ARE YOU WITH ME?_

Ward ignored him. He closed his eyes and surrendered to sleep, even though all he saw in his dreams was Agent Garrett shaking his head sadly in disappointment and Skye staring at him with accusation and revulsion. 

\--

_So when you bust out of here, don't hurt the redhead nurse._

_Why? Getting good sponge baths?_ Ward wasn't in the mood.

_The best. But he gives me my special medicine too. Heard of Centipede?_

_Yeah. It makes you crazy. Crazier._ From Deathlock to Garrett, that shit had been nothing but trouble.

_Not my version. Tiny doses. Many times. Garrett wasn't the only team leader working on a super-soldier serum. So, are you with me?_

Once again, Ward ignored Rumlow. He was probably just getting sponge baths anyway. He angled his hips so that he could rest his hand on his cock and touched himself for comfort. He closed his eyes and thought of Skye, but he couldn't remember her face clearly. Her face kept getting obscured in his imagination by a black muzzle mask. He gave up the effort as a lost cause and went to sleep. 

Tap... tap.. tap... on _his_ bedside. Ward translated the code before he even opened his eyes. _Are you with me?_

Rumlow loomed over his bed, shackles loosely hanging against his sides. The monitors shrilled. They would have mere seconds to make their move. Ward nodded, committing himself to the only cause he had left. The soldier ripped the railing off the bed, then the shackle chains apart. His strength was eerie and familiar, Ward prayed to a god he did not believe in that the insanity hadn't set in yet. 

Their escape was brutal and efficient. Brain matter flew against the walls, the bed railing a makeshift bludgeon. Ward stole guns from the night-shift guard and executed anyone he saw, quickly with ruthless mercy. No one was going to suffer in a hospital bed when he dealt with them. _No one_. He was righteous, a silent merciful angel of death. 

He wasn't as fast as Rumlow, so the bigger man slung him over his shoulder and sprinted for the side door. They burst through into the employee parking lot. It was easy to steal a car and speed along in the darkness. That was the whole point of getting transferred to a hospital facility. Melinda May had done him a favor beating him so severely. He'd have to return the favor when he saw her next.

Rumlow laughed, deep in his throat. The black brace on his jaw made him look like a demon in the dark. Ward grinned a rictus grin of triumph, he felt like howling. He reached over and massaged Rumlow's thigh, grabbing hard. Rumlow slung an arm around Ward's shoulders and pulled him close as he drove. 

 _Mine_ , Rumlow tapped out on the steering wheel. And in answer, Ward picked up the hand on his shoulder and suckled the fingers. Ward laid his head on Rumlow's chest and sighed, maybe he did need a new mentor. Someone who had a plan. Someone with a taste for mayhem and vengeance. He ran his fingers over the black plastic brace and smiled when Rumlow squeezed him back affectionately. 

They would burn the world together, one bullet at a time.

 

**Author's Note:**

> On the next episode of Fantasy Hospital... Yeah, I took liberties. LOTS of them. Seriously, I cannot be the only person who ships these two. Yes, crack pairing, but they're both so obsessive and immoral.


End file.
